Running a Nail Salon: 4 Pitfalls of Being Unorganized

When running a business, organization is key. And if it’s a nail salon you’re running, being organized is especially crucial because you’re operating a client-facing business. The livelihood of your salon is dependent upon the service you provide and the impression you give to the public.

With nail salons present in nearly every shopping center in every city large and small and new salons popping up regularly, the competition is fierce. If your salon doesn’t have it together, people will see that and go elsewhere.

Read on for 4 pitfalls your salon will likely face if it’s not being run in an organized, efficient manner.

1. More Waiting Around
Being unorganized leads to inefficiency. If you don’t have particular processes in place to streamline the many activities your salon undertakes in a given day—including taking appointments and processing payment in addition to catering to clients—everything is bound to take longer. You know that weekdays between the hours of 9-5 are not the problem; the difficulty will be in handling the Saturday and after-work rush of clients who are trying to fit their manicures into their busy schedules. Being unorganized will lead to longer wait times for service and longer appointments if technicians are wearing many hats—answering questions and taking payment in addition to taking care of clients. And longer wait times just leads to chaos and is frustrating for everyone.

2. Atmosphere is Everything
A trip to the salon for a mani and/or pedi should be relaxing. It’s a time to put life’s stressors aside for a brief moment and enjoy a bit of pampering. So if a salon appears unorganized, clients can tell, and the resulting chaos takes away from the experience and can make clients feel exactly what they came to avoid: stress. Being organized results in better service for your clients and a more positive experience for them. And when your clients are happy, your staff is happy, too.

3. Mistakes are Made
Being unorganized also leaves more room for error. Mistakes are more likely to be made in a variety of areas, like staff scheduling, appointment booking, and payment processing. Even nail technicians’ work can become sloppy when a salon lacks organization. This leads to unsatisfied customers and poor reviews.

4. Reputation Matters
Although having an online presence for your salon is important, when people have negative things to say, they will post about it online. The above risks that can follow without proper organization at your nail salon will also affect your salon’s reputation. Poor online reviews and negative feedback on social media are two ways individuals will use technology to share their poor experiences. Also don’t forget the power of word-of-mouth; poor reviews also travel quickly when people talk.

If there is one thing to take away from this, it’s realizing the importance of ensuring your nail salon is organized and prepared. Running your salon without organized processes will turn clients away and damage your salon’s reputation, putting your business in jeopardy. So, the faster you start getting organized, the faster you’ll start seeing results.

Stay tuned for my follow-up post about common areas in which nail salons lack organization.

Let us know: Has disorganization affected your nail salon? If it has, in what ways has being unorganized affected your business? Comment below!

About the Author

Erica Brooke Fajge is a contributing author for Booker by MINDBODY. She has extensive experience in the tech and digital marketing industries, specifically in web content, online publishing, and startups. Erica also shares her expertise as an adjunct instructor at the Fox School of Business at Temple University in Philadelphia, where she teaches Business Communications in the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management.